Department of Homeland Security officials have ordered what amounts to a pause for a range of programs that allowed immigrants to settle in the United States temporarily, including a key initiative providing an entryway for Ukrainians.
The directive, contained in an email sent by the top official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Thursday and obtained by The New York Times, demands an immediate end to “final decisions” on applications related to the programs while the administration reviews them and decides whether to terminate them.
The scope of the programs mentioned in the pause is vast, and the decision will block the entrance of immigrants fleeing some of the most unstable and desperate places in the world. In addition to Ukraine, which has been battered by years of war, the programs offered a pathway to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela, among others.
The decision also indicates that the Trump administration plans to conduct an extensive crackdown on a wide range of programs that allowed people to enter temporarily.
“This suspension on parole decisions is similar to the suspension of all asylum access at the border and the suspension of the refugee program,” said Yael Schacher, the director of Americas and Europe for Refugees International. “It’s a testament to the administration’s hostility to all humanitarian immigration.”
Administration officials have said President Trump believes that many of the programs were never lawful to begin with. He signed an order on Monday demanding that the Department of Homeland Security end “all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my executive orders,” or programs that allow a wide number of people to enter the country under a temporary status known as parole.
The acting head of the Department of Homeland Security ordered agencies on Monday to review parole programs to see which met Mr. Trump’s specifications and, if necessary, pause them while conducting the review.
A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman confirmed the existence of the guidance issued this week but had no further comment.
Trump administration officials have been particularly critical of programs like the one that allowed more than 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua to enter the country under parole if they had financial sponsors. On Monday, the Trump administration quickly shut down one program that allowed migrants to enter at a port of entry using a government app known as CBP One.
The affected programs also include Uniting for Ukraine, a Biden-era initiative that allowed Ukrainian immigrants to enter the United States temporarily if they had financial sponsors. More than 150,000 Ukrainians had entered under the program as of September 2023, according to government data.
The directive also halts decisions on applications for a program that allowed certain families to reunify in the United States, and another initiative for Central American minors who have family members in the United States.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.
